High efficiency zinc-iodine adsorption-aided flow battery with a low cost membrane

Abstract

A flow battery system and methods are provided for eliminating crossover issues of active materials in redox flow batteries. A solid adsorbent with large specific surface area is disposed in an electrolyte of at least one half-cell, in contact with the electrolyte. During a charging process, the active material in a charged state is captured and stored on surfaces of the adsorbent, so that concentrations of the active material in the electrolyte in the charged state is reduced and the crossover is inhibited. During a discharging process, the active material is desorbed from the adsorbent to the electrolyte and pumped into the stack for reaction. The flow battery stack can have a microporous membrane separator. The electrolyte of the flow battery includes zinc iodide as active material and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as an additive.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The increasing concern on climate changes and air pollution accelerates the transformation of energy systems to be renewable. Compared to coal plants, nature clean power (solar or wind) has disadvantages of intermittent supply and uncontrollable instant power. Moreover, the supply period of nature power may not satisfy the requirements of users. As a result, energy storage plays a critical role in the renewable energy systems. As one of the most competitive candidates for large-scale energy storage, flow batteries (FBs) offer unique advantages of high efficiency, low cost, scalability and rapid response for grid energy storage. A flow battery comprises two electrolytes tanks—an anolyte tank and a catholyte tank for energy storage, a stack for power conversion, and two pumps to circulate the two electrolytes between the tanks and the stack. The stack includes an anode in contact with the anolyte, a cathode in contact with the catholyte, and a separato...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent relates to a flow battery system that uses zinc iodide as one of the active materials. The system includes an electrolyte tank containing an adsorbent, such as activated carbon, to reduce the concentration of the active material in the electrolyte and limit the crossover issue. The system also includes a separator to allow migration of ions between the anode and cathode, and polyethylene glycol as an additive to further suppress crossover. The use of zinc iodide and AC results in high utilization of iodine and a high coulombic efficiency. The technical effect of the invention is to improve the performance and efficiency of flow batteries using zinc iodide and activated carbon.

Problems solved by technology

During a charging process, the charged active material is adsorbed and stored by the adsorbent in the electrolyte tank, so that the concentration of the charged active material in electrolyte is reduced, and the crossover issue is limited.

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